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Edinburgh Larder is located just off the Royal Mile

Give us a brief history of

the business and your

involvement with it

“It opened with the aim

of bringing a taste of the country to the heart of the city and

highlighting the fantastic produce available in Scotland. There

weren’t many places offering really good local food in the

centre of town when the café opened and I wanted to create

an affordable lunch destination for locals and tourists alike. I

set up the business with the help of my brother and I’ve been

running it ever since. I opened the bistro on Alva Street last

June to use more of the great Scottish produce we use at

the café. My dad, my aunt and my brother have invested in

the business to enable it to

grow so it’s definitely a family

business although I’m the

only one involved in the day-

to-day running of it.”

Who works with you? What roles do they perform?

“We have a great team of people at the café and bistro. The

manager at the café is Will Bain and his assistant manager is

Chris Dunstan. It’s quite unusual for the café to be made up

largely of boys – it didn’t start that way but they’re a fantastic

team and really love what they do. The teams at the bistro

are headed up by Jade Linden in front of house and Kenny

Whittle in the kitchen. They’ve only been with us for a couple

of months, but they’re both doing a really great job.”

Tell us about some of your best sellers (food

and drink)

“The best sellers in the café are

generally the sandwiches

and our homemade

soups.

The sandwiches are made using artisan bread from a bakery

called Au Gourmand and filled with really delicious Scottish

produce like Barwhey’s cheddar and our homemade pickle.

The soups are made on site every day using local and

seasonal produce. Our homemade sausage rolls are made

with organic mince from Peelham Farm and go down an

absolute storm. Our most popular cake is our dark chocolate

brownies, which are made using ground almonds instead

of flour and dark chocolate so they’re gluten free and extra

delicious.”

Separate from your food and drink offering, how do you

differentiate your business and keep customers coming

back for more?

“We regularly ask for feedback and try to ensure we act

on our customers wishes. We also offer a really personal

touch and remember everyone who comes back – it’s like

an extended family. We change the layout and the food

offering regularly to keep things interesting

too. We also offer a range of events such

as mushroom foraging and supplier talks,

which allow people to get more involved in

what we do.”

Do locally sourced ingredients or

products play a big part in the business?

“They play a huge part – they’re at the

core of the business as they’re really the

reason why we opened. We keep

things as local as possible and change all our

homemade products to use the best

ingredients each season has

to offer.”

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EssentialCounter Culture

A FAMILY AFFAIREleanor Cunningham introduces Essential Café

readers to the Edinburgh Larder, which opened

in October 2009, on Blackfriars Street, just off

the Royal Mile.

Eleanor says that local ingredients are at the core of the business

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Edinburgh Larder’s most popular cake is its dark chocolate brownies which are made using ground almonds instead of flour and dark chocolate

Do you think the future is bright for

independent cafés and coffee shops

in the UK?

“It’s a really tough time for businesses. The

economy has been struggling for some time

and there are more regulations than ever

before. The increasing tax and wage costs really

do make it difficult to survive. However, there’s

a wave of really interesting and exciting places

opening up and it feels like people care more

than ever where their food comes from, which

is great.”

Do you have a favourite regular customer?

“We have loads of great customers - and I’m

sure every member of staff has a favourite but

we’ll keep them quiet.”

How do you go about choosing your

speciality drinks such as your coffee?

“I usually go for the most local and

independent producers. Our beers come from

within a 10 mile radius at the café – it would be

too hard to decide on them otherwise as there’s

so many amazing Scottish beers to choose from

– Tryst and Stewarts are both fantastic. Our coffee is

roasted in Edinburgh by Artisan Roast and our tea is hand

selected by Eteaket who are also Edinburgh-based and

have a really beautiful range of teas.”

High-quality hot chocolate is becoming more popular,

something you offer?

“We make our own hot chocolate mix using dark chocolate

and cocoa – it was based on a recipe given to us by one of

our customers. We mix it with seasonal ingredients in the

winter and sometimes chilli too for a bit of a kick.”

We understand you are in the middle of creating a

new website, how important is the online side of the

business in creating awareness?

“It’s hugely important – especially with the café as it’s so

central and we have a large number of people visiting from

abroad. Many of our customers keep in touch with us when

they’ve gone back home via twitter and Facebook too. The

new website should be up and running next week and ties

in with our new branding.”

You recently refurbished, how did that go and where

there any specific aims?

“We refurbished the bistro as we hadn’t done much work

on the front of house when we moved in last year. We really

wanted to create a modern feel which was more in keeping

with our brand and ethos. We used reclaimed materials to

build the furniture and things like lobster creels as lighting

to give a more unusual and rustic feel. We wanted to

make it a really special place for our customers to visit and

somewhere they’d feel at home.”

Does the Edinburgh Fringe Festival offer much in the

way of increased business?

“It increases the business at the café massively and it does

have an impact on the bistro too. With the café being just

off the Royal Mile, we double our staff in the festival and

we’re open from 7am till 11pm too so it’s a very busy month

but we love it.”

If money was no object and you could change one thing

about the business, what would you invest in?

“I’d set up a dedicated outside catering unit so we could

expand our outside catering business and increase our

preserves (jam, cordial and chutney).”

More information: Edinburgh Larder +44 (0)131 5566922,

www.edinburghlarder.co.uk

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